223 Part Of An Equation part 1

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(General P.O.V)

Luthor had his arms stapled together, watching the news coverage on the destruction of the UN headquarters.

"... Estimated casualties so far number in the hundreds, with 578 people badly injured, 30007 with minor injuries and an undefined number tagged as missing. The tragedy has made national news across the globe, following the threats of Vandal Savage to continue his terrorist actions if the Nations of the world do not swear fealty."

Luthor's eyes narrowed as the anchor continued to narrate. One particular thing grabbed his attention and brought a smile to his face.

"Among the deceased is the UN secretary, Giovanni Asahani."

He rose to his feet,

"Portal."

He stated and a second later a boom tube appeared before him.

Luthor walked through and came out on the other side. His new surroundings turned out to be a Cadmus facility.

"Luthor...just the man I wanted to see."

Ivo walked up the stairs, taking two stairs at a time while vibrating with excitement.

"Amazo 2.0 just went offline."

Luthor's eyebrows rose at the news.

"Did it now?"

"You know what this means right?"

Ivo asked, walking behind Luthor as the man headed towards the huge super computer terminal set in the middle of the room.

"For you? Or for me?"

He asked the shorter and older man.

Ivo cleared his throat a little embarrassed.

"I am of course happy I get to use the valuable data, 2.0 acquired to complete Starman."

The shorter man scurried towards the glass casing on the side of the room where a being stood inside.

"He is going to be more powerful and more intelligent. A perfect being."

Luthor smiled,

"Your enthusiasm is infectious professor."

Ivo laughed .

"Thank you, yes I am a genius..." He basked in the praise before his face changed into a knowing look.

"But you Luthor, you have a mind even I can only hope to have. You commissioned me to create an imperfect Amazo, one with an unstable core, knowing fully well that if it met a being it was unable to copy, it's inner programming would break down hence an explosion that would leave an object the size of our planet, dust floating in outer space..."

Ivo stopped to see if Luthor would disagree.

"Go on."

"Whatever it was that faced Amazo...it wasn't what killed your biggest competition...you are the one who killed Vandal Savage."

A slow smile worked it's way onto Luthor's face.

"You're wrong Professor. Savage was undone by his own folly. I am merely tipped the scales. It's a rule of business you see."

He turned to the terminal. On the screen, an image of Superion and the TMNT team could be seen trying to access one of Morrow's old decommissioned labs.

"Just as I expected... everything is going according to plan."

He turned to Mercy who had been shadowing him closely.

"You know what to do."

Mercy's hands changed into cords that originated from her cybernetic fingers, glowing blue. The ever loyal assistant/bodyguard walked over to the computer and connected the cords to the ports.

"What is the next step in this grand plan of yours? Take over the world by becoming the UN secretary?"

Ivo joked.

"Yes. That's precisely it."

Luthor answered, staring intently at Amazo's creator. The shorter man sputtered.

"Oh."

Luthor turned to face him fully, a hand going to his inner pocket.

"Unfortunately for you Professor, you won't be there to see it."

Ivo gulped.

"What do you mean?"

A trail of blood ran down Ivo's head before his body split into two.

The two halves fell to either sides as Luthor removed a handkerchief and wiped the small drops of blood on his face off.

"You ruined my suit." He chastised Terror whose hand lost the red glow of the construct he had created, a clever utilization of his ability to create forcefields.

Luthor looked down at the dead scientist.

"Really Professor, working behind my back because The Brain promised to carve out a corner of the world for you? Had you any foresight, you would realize that the reason why none of their plans will ever work is because they are going about it the wrong way."

"The hard approach has failed time and time again. We learn from history, not copy it and hope for the best. You don't conquer through fear. You conquer through supply and demand. Control through incentive. Control through necessity."

He adjusted his tie.

"Portal me to Metropolis and Clean this shit up."

Luthor was mad. Due to Ivo's stupidity, he had just lost a valuable resource. Good thing Ivo had left something valuable behind. He eyed the Starman, the combined efforts between Ivo and Morrow.

(Elsewhere)

(14 minutes remaining till the destruction of one city)

Breaking into the Target, the team quickly, under the direction of Superion, found a secret elevator that took them to the underground section of the abandoned lab.

It was one of the few labs the Justice Society hadn't gotten to after taking down Morrow. Years later and the Lab was left abandoned and only now was it seeing light for the first time.

The access codes to open the section were easy enough, Robin had gotten them from Red Tornado's room, the android having had them saved in his memory banks as a precaution. If he ever got badly injured and Morrow wasn't around, Red Tornado could access the Lab to repair himself.

A layer of dust covered everything. The machines and appliances in the room were archaic by modern day standards, given by what Donny and April said.

"Hey big guy, mind helping me with this?"

Donny motioned to Superion.

The Kryptonian floated over (something that Mikey was still going on about. The fact that a real life superhero was with them and flying no less), reached out for the white cloth placed over a huge object and pulled it away.

April whistled.

"That...is... impressive."

"I agree." Donny nodded while running his hand along the structure of the huge computer.

"Donny, time." Leo reminded his brother.

"Oh right."

Donny turned it on and begun fiddling with his own device to interface with the huge super computer.

"Oh and Mikey, don't touch anything. The sooner we're done here the sooner we can save the..."

An explosion of lava shot out from the ground, throwing April, Casey and Raphael away roughly.

Casey had the good sense to wrap his body around April and when they landed on a disassembled machine, both of them were relatively unharmed.

"What in the...heeeelll..."

Mikey trailed while looking at the 8 foot monstrous creature that rose up from the floor.

The air grew colder as a layer of mist covered the room, only to be replaced by a blistering heat that melted the ice into puddles of water and steam. Made up of a collection of red metal jumbled together with loose wires and cords transmitting power from its core, the android that emerged looked disturbing.

For starters it had 7 limbs. 2 hands more than was normal, placed on different parts of it's body and one of it's legs looking bigger than the other. A half wing emerged from its spine made up of ice and Lava. Finally, it had two faces on top of being huge.

"Intruder alert! Intruder Alert! Terminate."

A thin electronic voice emerged from its mouth.

"Oh...that's not good."

Mikey commented, swinging his Nunchuks in preparation.

"Donny you handle priming the program...while we keep Frankenstein Monster's sibling off your back."

Leo ordered, his Katana unsheathing with a sharp sound.

"Huh... about that," Donny begun. "I can't get through it's layers of security. The passcodes don't seem to be working."

The bad news stalled everyone.

"What?"

Superion asked in disbelief.

"You cannot be serious right now Donny!"

Raph shouted.

"Hey focus!" Leo snapped.

"Beta team to Watchtower."

Superion spoke through the comms.

"I hear you loud and clear Beta team...there's really nothing I can do from here. I didn't anticipate that Morrow would have extra layers of security."

Robin's voice sounded distressed.

"Fuck." Superion rubbed his eyes.

"Can you hack it?"

Before he could answer, a beam of ice launched off towards an oblivious Donatello.

The Kryptonian dove in between the blast and the teenage Ninja Turtle, tanking the attack and preventing Donny and the computer from getting destroyed.

"Within the time frame left?...no."

Robin answered.

The team instantly felt the last shreds of hope left begin to wane.

"There must be something we can do!"

April shouted in desperation. Only 12 minutes were left till a city was destroyed.

"One thing at a time..." Superion muttered.

"I'll handle the android."

Then he blasted off towards the mishapen Machine, slammed onto it's chest and rose up through the ceiling of the lab.

"For what its worth..."

Casey begun only for Donatello to interrupt them.

"Wait! Something is happening."

He cracked his knuckles and started typing on the huge keyboard. A laugh escaped out of the smart turtle.

"Someone or something is pushing past the firewalls and encryption like it's wet tissue. They're clearing a path for me!"

"Good!"

Leo stated as Raph smirked.

"We're back in business baby!"

From the Watchtower, Robin started running his own remote surveillance using the transmission Donny's computer was sending to the Watchtowers system.

"Someone else is in the system."

Robin told Black Canary, who slumped on her seat.

"Always have to cut it close huh?"

She commented.

"Wouldn't be the same if we couldn't."

Robin answered but something about the whole affair bothered him.

A prompt appeared on the Holo display above the table. A live video from Metropolis about a press conference. A press conference now?

"...With 10 minutes to go until the madman Vandal Savage's threats comes true and make no mistake about the serious nature of his deranged actions, I stand here today with a message of goodwill to all people. A message of the perseverance of the human will."

Luthor's voice was soft, strong and emotional.

His hand shook as he used the handkerchief to wipe away his sweat.

"My friends, colleagues and business partners have all asked me why I deemed it important to stay behind when Metropolis is now placed in a danger that is all too real and all too hopeless to overcome. The Justice League is nowhere to be seen. The UN headquarters are just a burning pile of debris and our own government fails to protect us..."

He paused and looked at the camera.

"Maybe this is a result of our complacency. For daring to place our protection in a team of individuals who while exceptional are no less infallible than us. I believe in the collective minds of our species. I believe that despite the enormous impact this dark day will have, it will pass and we will have learned from our folly."

His eyes blazed with righteous fury.

"And so I promise you, humanity will prevail. Whether it's by my hands through a fluke that manages to spare Metropolis or by someone else out there who has listened to my message...humanity will prevail."

Luthor stepped away from the podium and took a prepared seat before the arranged chairs. A few notable figures could be seen flanking him. The police Captain and the mayor of Metropolis. A thunderous applause could be heard before Robin closed the feed.

"It's Luthor..."

Robin came to the startling conclusion.

"It's all Luthor."

"And he has just destroyed the League's credibility. The Justice League is no more..."

Black Canary whispered.